With out the question there the answer never comes.

Why are there laws in North Carolina restricting access to Broad Band? Follow the money and it is clear.

Together we are many; better broadband -- nowBy: Steve Trubilla

This is the second column of a planned series on bringing broadband to Franklin County.Hindsight and foresight will always inform those with vision.

A student of leadership and management in the military, corporate America, and the political arena, I have found many similarities. A common quality among the most successful is the ability to plan rather than to react; vision.

Money without vision will not bring the desired result, unless that result is to simply spend money.This would be a great segue into the simply outrageous budget submissions by the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, the funding request for schools, and other county departments -- a budget plus up of $2.7 million and fee increases.

Someone obviously thinks the Franklin County taxpayer not only lacks vision but that they are blind.Stay tuned to Paper Bullets, I will be writing much more on this.

Franklin County North Carolina is well behind many other places of similar size and demographics in some ways. Broadband innovation is among them.

On January 1, 1983, and from there, researchers began to assemble the "network of networks" that became the modern Internet. The online world then took on a more recognizable form in 1990.

We live in a fast-paced world and who knew what the Internet was going to become back in 1983?In the late 1990s, believe it or not, there were people right here in Franklin County with the foresight to see the potential. There was an initiative called the ENC addressing this.

The first official broadband meeting I know of since the late 1990's in Franklin County was held in January 2018. I will characterize that meeting as a new local broadband initiative.In the majority, this initiative has been brought on by a grassroots effort, not by elected officials or county management.

I do not know who the person was that took the first step on this and will look further to find and credit them. Truly he or she is deserving of special recognition.

From that effort, many are now involved. A Franklin County Broadband Action Committee has been formed. I am researching the composition of that board, related costs and if it has been task organized.

On April 24, 2018, Franklin County hosted a Broadband Survey Meet and Greet to give citizens an opportunity to complete the recently available Franklin County Broadband Surveys. The meeting was held at the Louisburg Library. The following Franklin County elected officials and county management personnel attended the meeting: County Manager Angela Harris, Assistant County Manager Kim Denton, School Board Member Rosemary Champion, County Commissioners James Mark Speed and Sidney E. Dunston.

It was good to see so many of these people showing interest by attending the meeting.I was however very disappointed with the public turnout. Only two or three people showed up. Really?!? People that is pathetic!

The meeting was not advertised as well as it could have been. It was also held on a Tuesday night at 5 p.m. -- not the best time. People are getting home from work, and there is homework to be done.This all said, still only two or three people showing up; sad, very sad.

At that meeting, I learned from County Commissioner Speed, that State Rep. Bobbie Richardson arranged for a meeting with Gov. Roy Cooper and his staff on April 5 to meet and discuss the broadband needs of Franklin County. I called Commissioner Speed for further comment on this, he did not return my calls. I guess he is too busy. Maybe he will have more time in November.

In a word, Rep. Richardson, "Outstanding." This is what leadership from the front looks like.There are many voices now in common cause.

This can and is becoming a movement. Now is the time for you to get on board.

Carey Johnson, staff writer for The Franklin Times, was all over this with his high impact reporting, "Carrots AND sticks? Broadband fix needs both, contend officials"

This paper is your force multiplier.

It is time to lean in and support it. Your voice is needed, pick up your phone or get in your vehicle and go see the folks at the paper. Do not be shy, tell them how you feel. Better yet, write a letter to the editor and let thousands know how you feel!

American poet, essayist, and educator Robert Hayden penned, "I truly believe one person can make a difference, but how much more difference 100, or rather 99."We have something here we can "all" work on; something local. You can do this, we can do this,"Together we are many."

Work smarter, not harder is something I am sure someone has said to you along the way. It may be among the first bits of wisdom someone tried to impart upon you.

Knowledge is a body of information developed over time. What one does with that knowledge defines their potential. If you categorically know there is a better, smarter, more productive way to do something and choose not to, then the result you get is what you deserve.

In the great movie, "The Sands of Iwo Jima," John Wayne memorably said, "Life is tough, and it's tougher if you are stupid."

The application of knowledge for practical purposes even before the innovation of the lever and fulcrum has advanced man and woman's progress. It cannot be denied; those choosing not to embrace technology are left behind.

Understanding and access to technology have always been a brutal discriminator. In simple terms, it decides who the winners and losers are. Just pause for a moment and think if American-born theoretical physicist Julius Robert Oppenheimer would have been denied, or given delayed access, to the technology of his time. The world would be much different.

I offer this as an impact statement to demonstrate just how important it is to give the next J. Robert Oppenheimer all the tools he or she will need to answer tomorrow's unknown challenges.

Where will these people come from? He or she tonight may be sitting in a parking lot here in Franklin County, North Carolina trying to get access to the internet to do their homework.

Let us say you are a single parent trying to balance everything. You know if you do not make it to the McDonald's parking lot to use their public Wi-Fi, your child will not get their homework assignment done.

Grades matter when the competition starts for college acceptance and obtaining scholarships.Did you know this was happening? Can you just imagine if you are one of these young people, or their parents; the frustration of it all?

It wasn't until I had a conversation with Dwight Neal, a lifelong resident of Franklin County, and a recent District 3 candidate for the school board, that I realized the overall negative impact this is having.

I know, as you do, in many places in Franklin County getting and keeping an internet or cell phone signal is like bobbing for apples. You get one, and then you drop it.

District 3 in size is the largest in Franklin County. By population density it is equal to all the other districts. Quality access to the digital information highway and other services is woefully lacking. Imagine, if you will, that you have a business today and cannot do e-commerce. Progressively, brick and mortar businesses are losing market share to competing internet based business.

Neal's passion for seeing this improve captured my interest. As our conversation continued I found myself asking, how could this condition just be allowed to continue? I went looking for answers and found not only did local officials know about it, many of them live in District 3.

This problem did not just come up. There have been who knows how many children and parents wearing out the road for years to find a Wi-Fi signal.

The more I probed, the more disappointed and even angry I became. So here we go again, are you kidding me? County leadership, you know this, why haven't you fixed it!

Tell this story, you bet I am going to tell it, and expose everyone for not taking this on. Then I am going to pencil whip them for not doing their job.

I already had the ending of the story in my mind, before even writing the beginning."Bring the guilty in" and we will have a fair trial by public opinion, depose and expose them.

The more I looked into this, the picture of people not doing their jobs just would not focus.I found there are actually a number of people actively engaged addressing the need for broadband and other internet connectivity enhancements.

I am not going to give a total pass to them; it is a very long-standing problem and should have been addressed many years ago. Most action being taken is fairly recent. Given what I have learned it would be wrong, unfair, and gratuitous to just find fault.

A tenant of working smarter is to consider the past; it is where you have been. Focus on the future; it is where you are going.

I can report to you that some Franklin County management and many of your elected officials, both Democrat and Republican, are now engaged and in the fight.

In a future column I will highlight some of these officials and what they have been doing. I will also highlight what the real obstacles are and what you can do to help overcome them.

McDonalds, “Would you like Fries and Wi-Fi with that”?

McDonalds, “Would you like Fries and Wi-Fi with that”?By: Steve Trubilla

The music is playing and there is a dance going on. It is called an election for our/your School Board. The establishment is all about keeping their money rolling and their people in place.

It is supposed to be non-partisan. It does not matter what political Party you claim. It is to be all about the schools and children, not politics.

Well the Franklin County, NC Democrat political machine is spending a lot of money and writing letters to “influence” this election. They do not respect the non-partisan agreement they committed to.

So is a lie corruption? I say it is, and also yet another face of voter fraud. Think about this when you vote. What other lies have they told you to get your vote?

There is a man running in District 3, Dwight Neal, he has no interest in their political agenda. In fact like so many others he is tired of the noise they keep putting out.

Here is a real issue effecting every family, student, and parent in Franklin County.

For years parents have been driving their children to McDonalds to gain access to the internet so they can do their homework. No member of the School Board, including the incumbent Neal is running against is energized about this.

Mr. Neal is, and has caused others to become involved.In large part it is why he decided to run for the school board.

If you are a parent or student this is a very big deal!

Grades matter when it is time to compete for scholarships and gaining acceptance by a college.Parents should not have to take off work or leave early so their children can get their homework done.

This should matter to those that can do something about bringing Broadband to Northeastern Franklin County. The current Franklin County School Board can, but they are not. It is why it is time to replace them with people that will.

McDonalds, “Would you like Fries and Wi-Fi with that”. Look for the story in my Paper Bullets column in next week’s Franklin Times. I encourage you to pick up a copy.

With grant money available for rural broadband you have to ask yourself, just why have they not gone after it?

You can bet when Dwight Neal is on that School Board he will find out why.

This election is going to be decided by very few votes. You can and will make a difference in this election, if you vote.

Please, please get out and vote for Dwight Neal for School Board.​“Paper Bullets” enthusiastically endorses Mr. Dwight Neal for the Franklin County School Board.